EACS302

Paleoseismology is the study of past earthquakes. According to Charles Lyell, "[the] present is the key to [the] past," but the past is also the key to the present and future. Therefore, the estimation of past earthquake timelines is important to better access the potential of the future earthquakes. In this course, students develop an understanding of the earthquake geology and tectonic geomorphology and learn to identify earthquake generating active faults around the world using of aerial photographs, satellite data, and ArcGIS. Students learn to estimate the magnitude of past and future earthquakes using trench logs, borehole cores and geochronology as a case study from different seismically active regions such as New Zealand, Japan, Himalaya, and California and synthesize future potential trenching sites using conceptual knowledge learned from this course. Prerequisite(s): EACS 230.